The present invention is related to the skills of chefs and others in the art of cutting hard foodstuffs into substantially uniform shapes during food preparation. The use of the invention and the preparation of the foodstuffs into substantially uniform shapes falls into one or more of the culinary arts as practiced across the world.
Culinary art or arts has been a prominent part of worldwide history and culture. Culinary art, in which the word “culinary” means of or relating to a kitchen or to cookery and the word “art” may be described as the human effort to imitate, supplement, alter, or counteract the work of nature, is the art of the preparation, cooking and presentation of food, usually in the form of meals. This is an art for the reason that not just anyone can create inventive and delicious edible delights. The culinary arts have been continuously growing in interest and popularity and, as a result, a great number of students have begun to follow this career path.
If one is to become a culinarian or chef, there are a considerable number of techniques to learn, particularly those associated with the slicing and cutting hard vegetables commonly known as knife cuts or skills. The mastery of the ability to manipulate the various knives to achieve the precise desired cut requires a great deal of practice to acquire the proper techniques and skill set to be able to work efficiently. Today's cutting skills employ the use of historic French terminology as the accepted norm for identifying the different cuts and sizes of cuts classically utilized by chefs around the world. The standardized knife cuts are used when typically preparing, but not exclusively, root vegetables including potatoes, carrots, yams, sweet potatoes and others such as celery. The names for the knife cuts have been mostly adopted from the French and may include alumette, batonnete, brunoise, château, fondante, frite, julienne, mignonette, noisette, olivette, paille, parisienne, pont neuf and tourné. Other knife cut names or terms identifying the knife cuts commonly use in the culinary arts may include dice (large, medium and small), fine brunoise and fine julienne. The particular cut sizes and shapes will be discussed following with the description of the culinary cutting guide of the present invention.
How does an aspiring chef master the classic culinary vegetable knife cuts? Mastery of the various knife cuts can only be developed by repetition of the proper cuts. This has been previously accomplished by students through hours of trial-and-error practice under the guided supervision of a master instructor. Classroom instruction is only a part of the teaching regime as there are only a limited number of ways to develop the necessary muscle memory and fine motor skills to efficiently and perfectly execute the various knife cuts. Individual supervision is often the most effective way for the student to develop the necessary skill set. However, this takes an inordinate amount of time for the instructor to oversee the executed attempts of each student in a large class.
The present invention provides a useful self-guiding tool for use in practicing the knife cuts with much less supervision from an instructor decreasing the required time an instructor needs to spend with each student. To do this the present invention provides a cutting guide for matching each of the cuts actually performed by the student chef, not with a picture but with a physical guide or template against which the cut vegetables can be measured to determine whether the precise cuts have been achieved without continuous review by the instructor.
Further, the present invention is made of a material that is cleanable in order to adhere to the strict food service cleanliness regulations. Also, all of the various classic cuts are available on a single guide or template that can be held easily in one hand and be carried with the student in his or her knife bag. The guide or template can also be used for measuring other foodstuffs with rulers provided in both English and metric scales along with several common measurements provided by simple marking on one of the guide edges.
Other objects will appear hereinafter.